BATON ROUGE - Five newcomers - four freshmen and a junior college transfer - enrolled at LSU on Monday and will participate in spring football this march, the school reported.

The most heralded freshman is quarterback Russell Shepard of Cypress Ridge, Texas, who is expected to contribute in some fashion almost immediately, according to coaches.

Shepard is joined by fellow quarterback Chris Garrett of Tupelo, Miss. With Garrett and Shepard, LSU will now have five scholarship quarterbacks on its roster, with freshman Jordan Jefferson atop the depth chart.

Two other out-of-state freshmen also enrolled. They were linebacker Kevin Minter from Suwanee, Ga., and running back Drayton Calhoun from Tucker, Ga.

The fifth player was kicker Derek Helton, a transfer from Fort Scott (Kansas) Community College.

Although there were rumors former Bastrop wide receiver DeAngelo Benton has qualified and would be part of the 2009 Tigers he did not enroll Monday. School officials said the status is unclear for Benton, considered one of the nation's top high school receivers when he failed to qualify academically in 2007, but that it remains a possibility he will sign another letter of intent with LSU next month and be ready to play in August,